League One Referees

To be honest the ref was not bad yesterday, problem is he missed the big call in the match so that can be the lasting memory. But it makes me smile the amount of times so called 'expert pundits' on the box and radio also call it wrong at first and only make a more informed opinion once they have seen it again in slo-mo about 5 times and from different angles - and then you get "for me thats a penalty" or "for me that should have been a red card"!

 

Referees aren’t to blame for our league position. The shambles in charge until the end of November is. Primarily the man whose name shall not be mentioned no more. He cocked it up. HopkinS is battling to right the ship. TBF we were adrift at one point and are no longer. We need to improve further but are slowly turning it around. Need to win our home games.

 

We are not but there is no doubt bad decisions have cost us a lot of points this season. I know things tend to even up but it hasn’t for us this season. When your down your luck is down. Bad play is why we are down there but it’s been made worse without doubt

 

Where are you going to get the extra VAR assistants from, bearing in mind you need three per match, then there's the minimum 8 cameras per game ..........

 

Recruit train, and pay them!

 

From increased ticket prices? surcharge on TV subscriptions? and at the end of the day, the decisions will still be open to exactly the same subjectivity, albeit with better data.

 

I can put up with a poor decision now and again .It gives them sat behind something to moan about other then Adam Chicksen,and me getting up to go to the loo.

 

That yesterday was clear as day a pen plus a red card and same against Bristol rovers at home just hope those incidents dont become our downfall come may.

 

No they won’t because we will stay up.

 

Who has said anything different? I’m not sure anyone is linking our position to the referees’ performances. Doesn’t detract from the fact that some of the decisions have been massively wrong

 

Man City's thrid goal today is a clear hand ball.

The key is making sure we score as many as possible. Then if the ref wants cancel the goal for whatever reason then fine.

No point moaning about refs!

 

But Fordy, you're a closet scouser and Liverpool fan anyway. But just look up the rules that covers handball and apply it to the ball hitting Aguero's arm.

 

Only thing in my closet is a midget

 

#refsknowfootball

 

Your closet must be a shoebox, mate.

 

part-time officials earning £350/match + expenses after working a 5-day week in their full-time profession, sometimes travelling long distances the night before or morning of a match - and we expect them to get every decision correct? it's not going to happen. as others have pointed out, even those officials on £80k-100/year doing the job full-time in the PL get things wrong.

VAR and other technologies will ruin the game even more than it already has been. the great thing about football was that the rules were there and the same for all whether it was a world up final or a sunday morning pub league.

unless people on here want to train and qualify as a match official to prove they can do it better, we've just got to suck it up. i don't remember many people complaining for fairness if the officials get a decision wrong which goes in out favour.

 

The game is faster now than at any time but still the referees are of an age they just cannot keep up, And most lines persons would be better as corner flags they are so poor

 

Hey @Fordy117

I’m assuming that by tagging me you expect a reply so here’s my tuppence worth.

Firstly, it is mentioned several times on this thread that people are saying it’s down to bad refereeing we are in the bottom four. I’m very happy to be corrected with evidence, but I’ve not seen anyone say this at all. Where is this coming from? I appreciate some people talk about all the recent referee injustices and how they have stacked up, but that is not the same as saying we are only in the relegation zone because of them. It seems unfair to use this generalisation as a line of attack on other people and state it is “embarrassing”. Like I say, if you have evidence of people say we are in the bottom four because of referees I’m happy to admit I was wrong and I will join you in disagreeing with them.

In terms of Jason Thornton, I’ve spent many hours with him this season and he certainly doesn’t hold that view.

I wasn’t at the Wycombe game so I can’t comment much on the events. But what I will say is this, Jason (and other people in the media) have a job to do to report on a football match. And that includes discussing the key talking points for about 45-60 minutes after the game. I was with Jason for the Shrewsbury game and obviously there were a lot of talking points. It was an amazing game, full of incident, and in truth we could have been on air another hour and still have only just got through them all.

On Saturday, City drew 0-0 at Wycombe in a game that had just two shots on target. I’m guessing it wasn’t a classic. And let’s be honest, there weren’t many talking points. But one of the key talking points of the game was the fact City could have had a penalty. So clearly that is going to take up a sizeable portion of the post match analysis. And Jason’s also going to ask David Hopkin about it. In the T&A match report from Simon Parker, it also takes up a large portion of his piece. In a game of little incident, this becomes magnified into a larger moment.

That’s just football, and the football media, works. I watched bits of the Man City-Arsenal game today. At half time in the studio, they talked about the three first half goals and only mentioned in passing that Man City could also have had a penalty. If that game had been 0-0 at half time, the penalty incident would have been the biggest talking point in the studio.

There’s nothing embarrassing about complaining about referees. I’m biased. I’m a Bradford City fan. If we get an undeserved penalty, I’m taking it with glee. If a referee is perceived to have wronged us, I’m moaning. It’s what football fans do. Clearly some people take it too far – as do managers – and I agree it can get boring to blame the referee for your own failings. But what makes football such a brilliant sport is the grey lines that produce so many talking points and debates. The idea we shouldn’t moan about referees making bad decisions is absurd to me.

 

Usually after a game, both sets of supporters slate the ref which suggests he hasn't done a bad job. Sure they all make mistakes but that is down to one problem; they are human!